The Oscar Wilde Bookshop was the first bookstore devoted to gay and lesbian authors. It was founded by Craig Rodwell in 1967 as the Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookshop. Initially located at 291 Mercer Street, it moved in 1973 to Christopher Street in Greenwich Village, New York, United States. It is named after gay author Oscar Wilde. Despite a limited selection of materials when the bookstore was first established, Rodwell refused to stock pornography and instead favored literature by gay and lesbian authors. Early organizing meetings for the first Pride Parade in New York City were held at the bookshop in 1970. Rodwell sold the bookshop in March 1993 to Bill Offenbaker, three months before Rodwell's death of stomach cancer. In June 1996 Offenbaker sold the store to Larry Lingle. In January 2003 Lingle announced that the bookshop would close due to financial difficulties. Deacon Maccubbin, owner of Lambda Rising bookstores, purchased the bookstore to prevent the historically significant bookstore from closing. The bookstore closed on March 29, 2009, due to double-digit declines in sales caused by the economic crisis, according to Brinster. It was part of a spate of LGBT bookstore closures in the early 21st century.
La librería fue fundada por Craig Rodwell en 1967 con el nombre Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookstore («Librería en Memoria de Oscar Wilde»).
La librería estaba situada en Christopher Street en el Greenwich Village, en la ciudad de Nueva York, Estados Unidos. El nombre se eligió en honor al autor gay Oscar Wilde.
A pesar del limitado número de libros disponibles sobre el tema cuando se abrió —de hecho, abrió con 25 títulos—, Rodwell se negó a ofrecer pornografía y en su lugar prefirió la venta de literatura de autores gays y lesbianas.
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